Bangladesh among top 5 growth achievers of 45 LDCs in 2017: Unctad

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has said only five countries, including Bangladesh of the 45 least developed countries (LDCs), achieved economic growth at 7 percent or higher in 2017.

The four other countries are Djibouti (+7pc), Ethiopia (+8.5pc), Myanmar (+7.2pc), and Nepal (+7.5pc) while Bangladesh achieved +7.1pc growth in 2017.

The analysis contends that too many LDCs remain dependent on primary commodity exports.

All other LDCs recorded current account deficits of varying sizes, ranging from less than one percentage point of GDP – Bangladesh and Nepal – to more than 25 percent in the cases of Bhutan, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, and Tuvalu.

Resources sent by individuals to LDCs as a group (remittances) totalled $36.9 billion in 2017, down by 2.6 percent compared to the peak of $37.9 billion in 2016.

In absolute terms, the largest recipients of remittances among LDCs included Bangladesh ($13.6 billion in 2016), Nepal ($6.6 billion), Yemen ($3.4 billion), Haiti ($2.4 billion), Senegal ($2 billion) and Uganda ($1 billion), according to Unctad.

Economic development in the world’s most-disadvantaged nations – more often than not in sub-Saharan Africa – is stalling towards the history of a lukewarm global recovery, risking widening inequality, new analysis from Unctad has revealed.

Data suggests that the 47 least developed countries (LDCs), a long-established category of countries requiring distinctive attention from the global community, will fall brief of goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development except pressing action is taken.

“The worldwide community need to fortify its help to LDCs in line with the commitment to depart no one behind,” Paul Akiwumi, Director of Unctad’s Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, said.

“With the international financial healing last tepid, development companions face constraints in extending help to LDCs to help them meet the Sustainable Development Goals.”

GDP boom fees will probably proceed to fall short now not only of their 2002-2008 average, but also of their 2010-2014 levels, Akiwumi said.

The evaluation highlights that LDC boom averaged simply 5 percentage in 2017 and will reach 5.4 percentage in 2018 – beneath the target of 7 percent increase envisaged by means of goal 1 of Sustainable Development Goal eight on promotion sustained, inclusive and sustainable financial growth.

While global fees for most foremost commodity categories have trended upwards considering that late 2016, this modest recovery barely made a dent to the extensive drop experienced when you consider that 2011, specially in the instances of crude petroleum and minerals, ores and metals.

In 2017, the LDCs as a team had been projected to register a contemporary account deficit of $50 billion, the second-highest deficit posted so far, at least in nominal terms.

This stands in contrast to figures for different developing international locations (not LDCs), all developing countries taken collectively and developed countries, all of which, as groups, registered modern account surpluses.

Projections for 2018 endorse that the modern-day account deficits of the LDCs are predicted to grow further, making worse possible balance-of-payments weaknesses.

Only a handful of LDCs, according to estimates with the aid of the International Monetary Fund, recorded modern-day account surpluses in 2017, such as two recipients of tremendously large quantities of useful resource – Afghanistan and South Sudan – as well as Eritrea and Guinea Bissau.

Special overseas aid commitments for LDCs amounted to $43.2 billion, representing solely an estimated 27 percent of net aid to all developing countries. This suggests a 0.5 percent amplify in aid in real phrases year-on-year.

This vogue supports fears of a levelling-off of useful resource to LDCs in the wake of the world recession.

“This analysis indicators a clarion name for action,” stated Akiwumi. “The international neighborhood wants to pay elevated attention to their commitments toward LDCs.”

The analysis was once introduced to Unctad member States at a meeting of its governing physique in Geneva, Switzerland, on 5 February.

The LDCs will now not acquire the Sustainable Development Goals except they velocity up wholesale restructuring of their economies, stated the Unctad.